Ripper’s leadership in doubt in WA

Laura Norda is a virtuous type – unlikely to be seen in a brothel, for example. Unless it’s as part of a “law and order" campaign.

That Norda made an early appearance on the West Australian political scene a few weeks ago, 15 months before the 2013 election, shows just how much trouble
Eric Ripper
is in. Last Friday’s Newspoll highlighting the WA opposition leader (and WA Labor) is as unpopular as Michael Clarke was before he scored 329 runs simply confirmed it.

Which is surprising, as Ripper had a solid end to 2011. His attacks on the Barnett government’s electricity and water price rises seemed to be gaining traction. So much so that the government’s preferred defensive strategy, flicking the switch to law and order issues, hit full tilt.

For weeks on end late last year The Sunday Times ran conveniently coincidental pieces on crime issues. There were proposed laws to crack down on bikies and pedophiles, and tough drink driving initiatives.

Amid the flurry there was also a general announcement of laws to force brothels to shift from suburbs to designated commercial precincts.

No it wasn’t an ingenious attempt to boost property values through LJ Hooker, just the completion of a Liberal 2008 pre-election pledge.

In his convoluted response to the proposed laws, Ripper showed all the hallmarks that have weighed on his leadership. He rejected a government compromise that individual sex workers would not have to register their details with officials if they worked for a licensed brothel.

Owners of brothels and sole traders would still have to register, but with Christian Liberal MPs also opposed, the bill faces an uncertain future.

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Ripper was adamant his prime concern in opposing the bill was in protecting prostitutes who would have to register, fearing it could stigmatise them and drive the industry underground.

That was hard to sell to a conservative WA electorate, less interested in supporting sex workers than in stopping drunks knocking on their windows at midnight instead of the brothel next door.

It was another example of Ripper’s default stance, which has been to try to contain the government rather than set out Labor’s own agenda, partly through his own cautious nature, and the constraints placed on him by his factional backers.

Take two other examples. Despite being lukewarm on maintaining a ban on uranium mining when deputy premier in the Carpenter government, Ripper is now totally against it. The Left of the WA party (which sees the anti-uranium stance as a vote winner) demands this of Ripper for their support.

He now proposes freezing the approvals process for any mines that are close to gaining a production licence if Labor wins in 2013, and says this will avoid the state having to pay hundreds of millions in compensation to thwarted miners.

Some in the party are worried, pointing to the fact that the scrapped federal tender for the Australia Network opened the Gillard government to compensation claims.

For the fealty of the Right faction, the unaligned Ripper has pledged his support for a partial deregulation only of shopping hours, despite it creating a maze of regulations for which shops could trade on Sunday, in contrast to the Liberals’ simple “let them open" plan. This is despite Ripper once voicing his support for deregulation as WA treasurer.

Hardly selling your body, but the public is clearly confused by Ripper’s positions. Ripper is affable and hardworking, and a good parliamentary performer, but his cautious tendencies have cost him in front of a camera, and in his ability to resonate with the public.

Witness his year of agonising over federal Labor’s mining tax, which culminated in him being booed at the ALP national conference in Sydney in December (a victory for him in WA). A similar plodding approach to policy development may now cost him the leadership.

Senior left-wing Labor MPs are now privately discussing withdrawing their support if policies, rather than simply reactions to the popular Premier Barnett’s positions, are not forthcoming by mid-year (and the polls don’t improve).

His two main challengers, the Right’s
Ben Wyatt
and
Mark Mcgowan
, for now seem content to wait, and there is little interest among power brokers in bringing the issue to a head before March preselections.

But whoever gets the job, and with federal Labor so on the nose in WA, and the federal election not scheduled until six months after the WA one, the leader’s job is likely to be reduced to simply trying to save as much of the electoral furniture as possible.